By Category

Due to Hurricane Sandy, the Live Stream headquarters in New York City had a power outage on Wednesday morning forcing the cancellation of Railbird Central.

Fortunately Nathan Jahnke of ProFootballFocus.com was nice enough to join us for a little Q&A with our viewers and listeners. Here's the transcript from that session, including a little trade deadline chatter.

Question from Brian Carriveau

Nathan, seeing as the trade deadline is tomorrow, what can you tell us about Steven Jackson and DeAngelo Williams? Are they still effective, even at their age?

Answer from PFF_NateJahnke

Steven Jackson more-so has been effective this year as well as recent ones. DeAngelo Williams showed some spark last year but not as much this year. With their contracts I don't see the Packers going after either of them. I would think it's more likely if they traded for LeGarrette Blount of the Buccaneers or Chris Ivory of the Saints who have both shown promise in their opportunities.

Question from Emmanuel

How much possibility is there that TT goes for Chris Ivory?

Answer from PFF_NateJahnke

I don't see it as being all that likely, but still a possibility. The run problems have been just as much if not more the offensive line than the runners. In the Jacksonville game, all five linemen graded out positively in pass protection, but negatively in run blocking. A lot of it would depend on what the Saints trade demands would be.

Question from John

I just don't see Thompson trading for anyone. If anyone I could see a Chris Ivory or someone like that. But for in house options. Do you see them doing more of a James Starks/Alex Green combo?

Answer from PFF_NateJahnke

So far it looks like they like Alex Green more than Starks. I don't know if Starks is still injured and the Packers are slowly working him in, but if looks like the only time they want to use Starks is if they need to give Green a breather. Even without Kuhn, Green saw 76.5% of the playing time, with a lot of the plays he missed being for 4 WR/1 TE sets. I think Green is the guy and Starks is the backup unless they add someone else or start losing faith in Green.

Question from Jayme

Nathan, there's been a lot of talk about the Packers trying to trade away Finley or Jennings. Do you see any team being able to take on Finley's bonus due or Jennings' injury?

Answer from PFF_NateJahnke

I don't see either player getting traded unless a deal has been secretly in the works for awhile. If FInley is unable to gain chemistry with Aaron Rodgers, I would guess it would be hard for him to get chemistry with any quarterback, and I don't see that going well if he tries to gain chemistry with someone new mid-season. I don't see any team wanting to take that risk when they can likely try getting Finley after the season. With Greg Jennings, I also don't see a team taking a risk on an injured player when he will be a free agent at the end of the year.

Question from Kevin Lamb

Nathan, how did Devon House grade out this past week coming in on Nickle when Hayward went to the slot?

Answer from PFF_NateJahnke

He graded out below average. He was only targeted by the Jaguars three times, but all three passes were caught for 15, 15 and 9 yards. He also had a penalty which didn't help his overall grade.None of the plays seemed overly terrible by him, but constantly not doing great adds up.

Question from P_Nic

Nathan, I am wondering what kind of numbers the Packers D have on 3rd and long (11yds+). It may just be me, but it seems like this defense has a really hard time getting off the field on favorable downs like that. Worse than other teams maybe?

Answer from PFF_NateJahnke

Doing a quick search, on the 18 times the Packers have put the other team in that situation, the other team has only made the first down 4 times. I think more of the problem might be the Packers haven't been doing a good job of putting the other team in that situation. Also those are just 3rd and long where the other team has tried a pass. Guessing a few times they may have tried to run, but I don't recall any of those working for the other team.

Question from John

To get the run game going do you see them bringing in a 6th Offensive lineman more to add more push? They did that for a few plays against the Jaguars and it seemed to work.

Answer from PFF_NateJahnke

I would not be surprised if the Packers did that more with Evan Dietrich-Smith. On the very small sample size of 8 plays(4 vs. Houston, 4 vs. Jacksonville), he's graded out well in run blocking. I honestly think the Packers offense was built to pass the ball, so it will be a good pass game that opens up the opportunity to run rather than the other way around.

Question from Brian Carriveau

What happened to the Packers offense that couldn't get anything going against a below average Jaguars defense this past Sunday?

Answer from PFF_NateJahnke

I think the Packers were hurting without Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson. I don't think players were getting open downfield as much, which led to Aaron Rodgers holding on to the ball longer (2.8 seconds per throw rather than his average of 2.5), and then he also threw the ball shorter (5.6 yards in the air per throw rather than his usual 7.6). He also struggled the few times he was under pressure. On the 9 plays he was, he was sacked twice, 5 passes went incomplete, and only 2 of those passes were complete.

Question from Jayme

Nathan, feels like the tight ends were a lot quieter in the game versus the Jags. How were they worked into the offense, and what role do you see them playing this weekend?

Answer from PFF_NateJahnke

They all had a little bit more playing time than usual with Kuhn gone, so if the Packers ever wanted a fullback, it was one of the tight ends filling the role. Outside of Crabtree, none of them have ever been worked much into the passing game. It doesn't help when D.J. Williams drops one of the two passes thrown his way. I think we'll continue to see them used as fullbacks if Kuhn is out again, but I don't see them contributing much in the pass game until they trust Finley more again.

Question from Kevin Lamb

Nathan, why can't the Packers run to the left? I know Newhouse is not much of a run blocker but I thought TJ Lang was a maller and would open up some holes.

Answer from PFF_NateJahnke

T.J. Lang at times has shown he can run block, but the Packers have kept him much more for his ability to pass block. Last year Lang was one of the best pass blocking guards in the league. Newhouse has been more of a problem than Lang, but outside of the Seattle game Lang hasn't done much at all this year in terms of run blocking.

Question from Brian Carriveau

Nathan, thanks for joining us. We'll wrap it up with this question. We talked about Davon House earlier, but how about Casey Hayward? He's had a terrific rookie season and seemed to play well against the Jags.

Answer from PFF_NateJahnke

Hayward had another great game against the Jaguars. He was targeted 9 times and allowed just four to be caught, so yet again allowed less than 50% of the passes thrown his way to be caught. He made 3 third down tackles short of the first down. We published our mid-season All-Pro team, and Hayward was an honorable mention at CB. Burnett also had his best game ever against Jacksonville.

God, I get so sick of hearing how GB is a passing team, especially as an excuse for the lack of a running game. If they are a "passing" team, why are they 12th in yards -- instead of 1, or 2, maybe 3?

I think it's just idiotic to ignore the running game, or downplay it, or give it the short shrift. Or excuse piss-poor results by saying it's not-what-we-accomplish, it's how-many-times-we-try!

The oLine built for pass pro? If so, why have they given up the 2nd most sacks in the league? Seriously? like there's pass pro weight training program vs. run blocking training?? Like someone could learn the skills to pass protect but just come up shit-outta-luck when learning how to run block??

I think it's an excuse.
And McCarthy can "tsk" his way through all the pressers he wants, but it's not going to change my mind.

WHY IS IT COBB AND CRABTREE GET LONG RUNS WITH THE SAME OFFENSE LINE AND RUNNING BACKS CAN NOT?BECAUSE OTHER DEFENSES KNOW WHATS COMING HAVE SOMEONE ELSE DO PLAY CALLING NOT MCCARTY.IT WORKED IN PRESEASON.

I HEAR THEY HAVE GOOD TACOS IN TEXAS, HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO TEXAS? SOMETIMES I WEAR FLIP-FLOPS AND SOMETIMES I WEAR SNEAKERS. AND DOLPHINS WILL TRY TO HAVE SEX WITH HUMANS SOMETIMES, FACT. MCCARTY STINKS!

Quote

"I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious."